At the beginning of this week, I wrote a column that would tell my feelings about my impending graduation and departure from the Trinity University community. I hoped I would make my readers grateful for their time at Trinity University and would make my experience at TU “special” and unique. However, my editor, Megan, graciously allowed me to move my previously written column to another time and place (stay tuned) due to the shocking material...

At the beginning of this week, I wrote a column that would tell my feelings about my impending graduation and departure from the Trinity University community. I hoped I would make my readers grateful for their time at Trinity University and would make my experience at TU “special” and unique. However, my editor, Megan, graciously allowed me to move my previously written column to another time and place (stay tuned) due to the shocking material that presented itself on Monday afternoon.

Hearing about the Boston Marathon bombings that happened Monday, I instantly felt disgust and anger at the perpetrators behind this attack. I couldn’t imagine who would want to harm innocent athletes, mothers, fathers, children and friends who simply wanted to run and join in on a famous event. Yet watching the reaction of my friends and fellow Trinity folk to the entire scenario is what really got me thinking. And thus, I decided to share my small observation with you this week, in lieu of a deluge of pre-matriculation words, in the hopes of giving you wonderful readers food for thought this weekend.

We, the youth of Generation Y (Google it if you’re unsure), appear to be in a state of contradiction. With all the information and memories of our predecessors in hand, we should be the best generation yet. We should have the answers to global problems, such as terrorism, energy crises and economic instability, and the motivation to try harder and be better because””in truth””all the real work has been done for us.

Yet, revisiting our Wikipedia page, I was reminded that our generation is a do-nothing generation. We are defined as lazy, unmotivated, unwilling to challenge ourselves and “Peter-Pan like” in our unwillingness to accept the responsibilities of adulthood the world places upon us.

This definition makes me furious because it’s simply not true.

When I found out about the Boston Marathon bombings, I was surprised to see how impassioned and moved my fellow Trinity students and Generation Y members were. I saw people texting, tweeting and calling furiously to check on friends and family in the Boston area. I saw people vowing to join the military one day to prevent acts of terrorism like this from ever happening again (legit, Khuong). I listened to my fellow Club Lib dwellers partake in philosophical discussions about why people participate in heinous actions like this and what should be done to prevent future instances. In short, I saw my peers do something that the world has deemed us incapable of doing: caring.

However, I am still left frustrated with the belief that it takes a tragic major event to motivate the world (or at least the world of Generation Y) to action and discourse. We, as a generation, should be better. And we will be.

So, in closing, I am using this article to make a personal vow that I made many years ago public to the Trinity community. I, Gabrielle “Queen Fabriella of Trinitonia” Shayeb, promise that when I grow up, I will prove Wikipedia wrong. I will care about my fellow men (and la-la-la ladies) and world events, and will do everything in my power to make the world better. Or, at the very least, I’ll attempt to make the world better than it is today.

Gabrielle Shayeb is a senior majoring in history.

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Gabrielle Shayeb

Gabrielle Shayeb is an Opinion columnist for the Trinitonian. She is a senior history and Spanish major from Midland, Texas.